History of Henry IV, Part I

Hotspur (Henry Percy). Well said, my noble Scot: if speaking truth
2220In this fine age were not thought flattery,
Such attribution should the Douglas have,
As not a soldier of this season's stamp
Should go so general current through the world.
By God, I cannot flatter; I do defy
2225The tongues of soothers; but a braver place
In my heart's love hath no man than yourself:
Nay, task me to my word; approve me, lord.

Earl of Douglas. Thou art the king of honour:
No man so potent breathes upon the ground
2230But I will beard him.

Messenger. He did, my lord, four days ere I set forth;
And at the time of my departure thence
He was much fear'd by his physicians.
2245

Earl of Worcester. I would the state of time had first been whole
Ere he by sickness had been visited:
His health was never better worth than now.

Hotspur (Henry Percy). Sick now! droop now! this sickness doth infect
The very life-blood of our enterprise;
2250'Tis catching hither, even to our camp.
He writes me here, that inward sickness—
And that his friends by deputation could not
So soon be drawn, nor did he think it meet
To lay so dangerous and dear a trust
2255On any soul removed but on his own.
Yet doth he give us bold advertisement,
That with our small conjunction we should on,
To see how fortune is disposed to us;
For, as he writes, there is no quailing now.
2260Because the king is certainly possess'd
Of all our purposes. What say you to it?

Hotspur (Henry Percy). A perilous gash, a very limb lopp'd off:
And yet, in faith, it is not; his present want
2265Seems more than we shall find it: were it good
To set the exact wealth of all our states
All at one cast? to set so rich a main
On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour?
It were not good; for therein should we read
2270The very bottom and the soul of hope,
The very list, the very utmost bound
Of all our fortunes.

Earl of Douglas. 'Faith, and so we should;
Where now remains a sweet reversion:
2275We may boldly spend upon the hope of what
Is to come in:
A comfort of retirement lives in this.

Hotspur (Henry Percy). A rendezvous, a home to fly unto.
If that the devil and mischance look big
2280Upon the maidenhead of our affairs.

Earl of Worcester. But yet I would your father had been here.
The quality and hair of our attempt
Brooks no division: it will be thought
By some, that know not why he is away,
2285That wisdom, loyalty and mere dislike
Of our proceedings kept the earl from hence:
And think how such an apprehension
May turn the tide of fearful faction
And breed a kind of question in our cause;
2290For well you know we of the offering side
Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement,
And stop all sight-holes, every loop from whence
The eye of reason may pry in upon us:
This absence of your father's draws a curtain,
2295That shows the ignorant a kind of fear
Before not dreamt of.

Hotspur (Henry Percy). You strain too far.
I rather of his absence make this use:
It lends a lustre and more great opinion,
2300A larger dare to our great enterprise,
Than if the earl were here; for men must think,
If we without his help can make a head
To push against a kingdom, with his help
We shall o'erturn it topsy-turvy down.
2305Yet all goes well, yet all our joints are whole.

Earl of Douglas. As heart can think: there is not such a word
Spoke of in Scotland as this term of fear.

Vernon. And further, I have learn'd,
2315The king himself in person is set forth,
Or hitherwards intended speedily,
With strong and mighty preparation.

Hotspur (Henry Percy). He shall be welcome too. Where is his son,
The nimble-footed madcap Prince of Wales,
2320And his comrades, that daff'd the world aside,
And bid it pass?

Vernon. All furnish'd, all in arms;
All plumed like estridges that with the wind
Baited like eagles having lately bathed;
2325Glittering in golden coats, like images;
As full of spirit as the month of May,
And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer;
Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls.
I saw young Harry, with his beaver on,
2330His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm'd
Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury,
And vaulted with such ease into his seat,
As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds,
To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus
2335And witch the world with noble horsemanship.

Hotspur (Henry Percy). No more, no more: worse than the sun in March,
This praise doth nourish agues. Let them come:
They come like sacrifices in their trim,
And to the fire-eyed maid of smoky war
2340All hot and bleeding will we offer them:
The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit
Up to the ears in blood. I am on fire
To hear this rich reprisal is so nigh
And yet not ours. Come, let me taste my horse,
2345Who is to bear me like a thunderbolt
Against the bosom of the Prince of Wales:
Harry to Harry shall, hot horse to horse,
Meet and ne'er part till one drop down a corse.
O that Glendower were come!
2350

Vernon. There is more news:
I learn'd in Worcester, as I rode along,
He cannot draw his power this fourteen days.

Hotspur (Henry Percy). Forty let it be:
My father and Glendower being both away,
The powers of us may serve so great a day
2360Come, let us take a muster speedily:
Doomsday is near; die all, die merrily.

Earl of Douglas. Talk not of dying: I am out of fear
Of death or death's hand for this one-half year.